Volume 18 No 1 • Spring 2009

Carl Schurz’s Contribution to the Lincoln Legend

Cora Lee Kluge LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, LC-5129 CONGRESS, OF LIBRARY LC-9301 CONGRESS, OF LIBRARY

Carl Schurz, undated , 1863

mong all the works about of approximately 22,000 words is INSIDE Abraham Lincoln that too long to be a book review and

are currently available at the same time surprisingly short Ain this Lincoln bicentennial year, for the well-respected assessment • MKI 25th Anniversary including both new titles and new of Lincoln and his presidency that Banquet and Conference editions of older titles, one contri- it has become. It was republished • Letters of a German in bution that catches our attention repeatedly between 1891 and 1920 the Confederate Army is an essay by Carl Schurz that first and several times since, includ- • Citizens and Those Who appeared in 1891. Written origi- ing at least three times in German Leave, Book Review nally as a response to the Atlantic translation (1908, 1949, 1955), and • Rembering Robert M. Bolz Monthly’s request for a review of now has appeared in new editions • Racial Divides, Book Review the new ten-volume Abraham Lin- (2005, 2007, and twice in 2008), coln: A History by John G. Nicolay and John Hay (1891), this essay Continued on page 11 DIRECTOR’S CORNER

Greetings, Friends Our online course “The German- diaries of the panorama American Experience,” a joint project painter F. W. Heine. Second is the and Readers! of the Wisconsin Alumni Asso- project entitled “Language Matters ciation, the Division of Continuing for Wisconsin” (Center for the Study Studies, and the Max Kade Institute, of Upper Midwestern Cultures, MKI, pring is here—almost—and is in full swing. We were led to and a group of UW linguists), which we are looking forward to a believe that we might get about 20 has received a three-year Ira and number of events that are right students, but to everyone’s amaze- Ineva Reilly Baldwin/Wisconsin Idea Saround the corner. First on the list is ment 51 have enrolled! The course grant to explore language in four our conference entitled “Excursions features lectures by Kevin Kurdylo, Wisconsin communities as it relates in German-American Studies,” the Joe Salmons, Jim Leary, Mark Loud- to historical and current immigra- capstone event in our year-long MKI en, Antje Petty, and me, and while it tion and questions of identity. 25th anniversary celebrations, which has been a challenge, as well as a lot And finally, please don’t forget to will take place on April 1–3 at the of work, it is thrilling to see all the mark your calendars for our annual Memorial Union on the University enthusiasm for German-American Friends meeting and dinner, which of Wisconsin-Madison campus. The topics. It has also been a chance for is being held this year on May 2nd in program announcement is now us to learn about teaching in the Beaver Dam. Further information on our MKI Web site, and printed digital age, as the production of our about this event will be ready soon: announcements will have arrived in course involves some of the most please watch our Web site and check your mailbox even before you receive modern methods and technology. your mail. We know that you will this Spring issue of the MKI Friends Meanwhile, the MKI is pleased to enjoy this Saturday in the company Newsletter. We have reserved a large announce that a couple of our joint of your Friends. venue at the Memorial Union for the projects have received funding and Until we see you again: may you banquet on the evening of April 1; are moving ahead with work. First of enjoy hard work, good success, and and we hope to have a full house for all is the Heine Project (Milwaukee happiness with the assignments that the two featured presentations: an County Historical Society, Museum come your way. address by Ambassador Dr. Klaus of Wisconsin Art, and MKI), which —Cora Lee Scharioth of the Federal Republic of has received one year’s worth of entitled “Why the German- financial support from the Lynde American Relationship Matters,” and and Harry Bradley Foundation the conference keynote address by in Milwaukee and will be able to Professor Emeritus Jost Hermand proceed with the transcription of the of the UW-Madison Department of German entitled “Forced Out of Hitler’s Reich: Five Eminent Madisonians.” Please send in your The Newsletter of the Friends of the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies is reservations by March 20th! After the published quarterly at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Submissions are invited and should be sent to: banquet come two days of morning and afternoon conference sessions, Kevin Kurdylo with presentations by a distinguished Friends of the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies group of scholars representing vari- 901 University Bay Drive, Madison, WI 53705 Phone: (608) 262-7546 ous disciplines and approaches to the Fax: (608) 265-4640 field of German-American studies. [email protected] We have come so far, we appreciate your support, and we know you will mki.wisc.edu maxkade.blogspot.com find our program quite appealing.

2 CAPSTONE EVENTS OF THE MAX KADE INSTITUTE’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR

Banquet Excursions in German-American Studies International Conference and Public Discussion

Wednesday, April 1, 2009 Thursday and Friday,April 2-3, 2009 5pm Memorial Union Memorial Union University of Wisconsin, Madison University of Wisconsin-Madison free and open to the public, no registration required

Registration required Thursday, April 2 9 AM morning session Special Address by America and Her Immigrants: Ethnicity, Policy, Ideas Ambassador Dr. Klaus Scharioth, • Cora Lee Kluge, opening remarks (Max Kade Insitute) Federal Republic of Germany • Walter Kamphoefner (Texas A&M University) “Why the German-American • Daniel J. Tichenor (University of Oregon) Relationship Matters” • Hartmut Keil (University of ) 3PM afternoon session Keynote Address by German-American Language and Literature Professor Emeritus Jost Hermand • Daniel Nützel (University of Regensburg) Department of German, • Lorie A. Vanchena (University of Kansas) UW-Madison “Forced out of Hitler’s Reich: Friday, April 3 Five Eminent Madisonians” 9AM morning session Limited Seating Creating the American Myth Please Register Early • Hugh Ridley (University College Dublin) • Barbara Groseclose (Ohio State University) Fill out the registration form • Kathleen Neils Conzen (University of ) you received in the mail or print 2PM afternoon session out a form from the MKI Web site. Learning From Each Other Mark you meal choice and return • Uwe Lübken (Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich) with payment of $29 per registration • Louis A. Pitschmann (University of Alabama) to • PANEL DISCUSSION : University of Wisconsin Faculty Friends of the Max Kade Institute For a detailed program, including titles of presentations and speakers, please Attn. Banquet consult the Max Kade Institute Web site. 901 University Bay Drive Madison, WI 53705 Board of Directors The Friends of the Max Kade Institute Peter Arvedson Elm Grove Hans Werner Bernet Monroe Elizabeth Greene Madison Charles James Madison Cora Lee Kluge ex officio, Madison Ed Langer President, Hales Corners Tom Lidtke West Bend Fran Luebke Brookfield Peter Monkmeyer Asstistant to the Treasurer, Madison Antje Petty ex officio, Madison Karyl Rommelfanger Secretary, Manitowoc Greg Smith Treasurer, Beaver Dam Don Zamzow Vice President, Wausau

3 Dear Miss Lenora: The Letters of a German on June 1, 1861 for a term of twelve months, and it immediately moved Soldier in the Confederate Army north into Virginia to help protect the entrance to the strategic James Karyl Enstad Rommelfanger River. In his book, Magin argues that German immigrants were looked upon with suspicion in the South and thus not eager to fight for the Confederacy. Those Germans most likely to fight for the South, Mahin asserts, were either economically dispossessed or members of the middle class who had achieved a modicum of success in the South. The former feared abolition would lead to competition for jobs, and the latter worried they could lose the support of slaveholders, upon whom they were dependent. Jews, however, were a group that willingly served the Confederacy, according Robert N. Rosen’s ground-breaking monograph The Jewish Confeder- t is well known that thousands and then on to Mecklenburg County ates (Columbia, S.C.: Univ. of South of immigrants fought in the in in 1861, where he Carolina Press, 2000). They had long Civil War on the side of the worked at the Rock Island Woolen lived in southern states, and were INorth, many in regiments of their Mill. highly regarded for their educational own ethnic groups, but modern When the Civil War began, slaves background and business savvy. Thus readers are less familiar with the represented 40 percent of Meck- the German Jew Liebermann writes: story of immigrants who fought for lenburg County’s and 30 percent “I have dwelled for years in the north the South. Siegmund Carl (Charles) of the entire state’s population; and and never found rest till … I took up Liebermann was one of approxi- North Carolina contained both pro- my residence in the genial south.” mately 5,000 German-born Con- northern and pro-southern sympa- Among those left behind at the federate soldiers, an estimate given thizers. The state seceded from the Rock Island Woolen Mill was a viva- by Dean B. Mahin in The Blessed Union only after Lincoln had called cious young woman named Frances Place of Freedom: Europeans in Civil up 75,000 troops in response to the Lenora Davis. Because she was popu- War America (Washington, D.C.: attack on Fort Sumter; it was the last lar at the factory, Liebermann did Brassey’s, 2002). state to do so. not think he could win her; and he Born in Hamburg, Germany, in Liebermann left the woolen mill was surprised when she wrote only a 1835, Charles Liebermann was the immediately and enlisted in the month after his departure. son of a Jewish dyester, and he also Confederate army, joining Company Liebermann writes back the next became a dyester. He emigrated to B (the “Randalsburg Rifles”) of what day, “My fondest hopes have been the in the early 1850s would become the Thirteenth North in a certain degree realized … And and spent several years in the North, Carolina Volunteer Regiment. The since I received your letter, I begin to moving to South Carolina in 1857 regiment was mustered into service hope that they will make peace, that

4 Charles Liebermann, 1861 Frances Lenora Davis, 1861 we can return, and myself prove to it. In my native home, when a young contained I could hardly believe you that I will be worthy of your con- lady sends such a sign to a young that I, a comparative stranger to fidence and Respect.” He describes man, it means constant love and you, should have been lucky enough camp life: several hours of drill each friendship. I don’t mean to say that to captivate that dear price for day, but then hours of lying around you meant such, but I flatter myself which many [a] young man of your and idling away time. But the meals, that it means at least friendship acquaintance have strove in vain … he confesses, could be “sumptuous,”— and, as such, I consider it … I do All I can utter now out of a full heart cornbread, bacon, coffee, cakes and believe, and I mean what I say, that is thousand thanks.” lots of oysters and fish. Liebermann’s whoever will be the lucky man to be Liebermann dispenses with mood a month later seems frivo- your partner through life, he will be the formal title of “Miss Lenora” lous: “… if you would come here of blessed with all a man can desire and and begins to address her now as a night and see us going on dancing pray for.” “Dearest Lenora,” and each has a and singing you would Come to the During the winter of 1861–62, daguerreotype made for the other. conclusion you was at a Picnic ...” the soldiers of the Thirteenth were On January 12, 1862, Liebermann In August, Liebermann sent a left to observe what little action attempts a proposal, which evidently bottle of perfume, and she responded there was on the other side of gets lost in its flowery expose. In with a small Confederate flag and the James River and wait for the the next letter he comes more to the another gift, whose meaning he did spring offensive. There was time for point. “… to make it perfectly plain not understand. “I don’t know, my correspondence. Liebermann was to you, give me the blessed privilege, dear Miss, whether I understand overwhelmed by Frances Lenora’s dear Lenora, to call you my own the meaning of the precious little tone: “When I first read your last when my time is out, and by that you Cedar with the blue silk ribbon on letter and saw the language it certainly would insure my happiness.”

5 We do not have Lenora’s reply, this present unhappy war: in the first barrier between the invader of our but it must have been an enthusiastic place our state … seceded because soil and the loved ones at home. And “Yes!” Their different religious we would not allow Lincoln to use while they deeply deplore the loss of backgrounds—Liebermann was coercive means towards the southern so many of their brave comrades at Jewish and Lenora Christian—were states. Yet only one year has elapsed the battle at Williamsburg … they apparently no stumbling block, before the South uses Coercion as a assure their friends at home that or perhaps he had converted to means to keep together her army … the cruel invader never shall reach Christianity. He trusts her with his Lincoln denied the principle of state them unless it is over their prostrate paycheck, stating, “I have implicit sovereignty, … yet this same govern- bodies.” The resolutions were signed, confidence in you, which nothing ment, after a years existence, repudi- “C. S. Liebermann, Secretary.” can shake. I would as soon disbelieve ates this very same principle of State Three weeks later the regiment the gospel.” Liebermann mentions Rights ….” was engaged in the Seven Days God many times, sometimes The spring offensive began. In Battles, and Liebermann was reaffirming his belief that God is on March of 1862, the Thirteenth wounded. Sent home to recover, the side of the South. But this belief crossed the James River to join other he married Frances Lenora Davis is not unwavering: “… 1862 will be forces near Yorktown, and in late on July 29, 1862. By September, he ushered in with gloomy forebodings, April retreated toward Richmond rejoined his regiment at Frederick, and nothing short but the powerful to defend the Confederate capitol. Maryland, where the Army of arm of God can preserve us from The regiment was surprised by an Northern Virginia under General ruin.” attack at Williamsburg on May 4, Robert E. Lee was preparing an As spring came and the question and the 47 able men of Company B advance on Washington, D.C. He of re-enlistment arose among suffered heavy losses: eight killed, wrote home to thank Lenora for the the soldiers of the Thirteenth, eleven injured, and one captured. wonderful influence she had been Liebermann wrestled with his Liebermann writes : “I have read in his life, affirming “nearly all my decision, but ultimately, his sense often about battlefields but never brothers in arms have made the of duty and honor and the new saw one; oh, it was a terrible sight, remark, that I am a different man obligation he feels won out. He here lay one shot through his mouth, now from what I used to be.” writes: “For myself, I have now much another with the top of his head On September 14, the Thirteenth more to fight for than I had when shot off, and others groaning, shame regiment took heavy casualties the war began. Then I was alone, disagreeable for delicate ears … in a battle at Fox’s Gap in Stone and volunteered for myself and my After a days hard fighting, without Mountain, losing their brigade and country’s honor. Now, my Lenora, anything to eat, we received orders regimental commanders. Exhausted I possess in you and your love a to march, and we left our battlefield and demoralized, they marched treasure ….” and marched that whole night till toward Sharpsburg with the rest of Liebermann plans to return home 9 o’clock next morning … through Lee’s army. At dawn on September 17, in April, marry, and then reenlist. knee deep mud. I have never been the Thirteenth took its position in a But on April 25, 1862, he writes so broke down in life as then from sunken country lane, moved on to that his hopes have been “dashed to exhaustion.” reinforce General Hood’s embattled the ground” with the passage of a The men of Company B drafted troops, and was driven back, finally Conscription Act by the Confeder- resolutions for Mecklenburg returning to the same sunken road, ate Congress, which now forces the County newspapers, thanking the now known as Bloody Lane. Here, twelve-month enlistees to remain local citizens for their “very liberal on the battlefield of Antietam, 40 in the army for the duration of the contributions” and continuing: soldiers of the Thirteenth, including war. His words reveal his disenchant- “Resolved that the Randalsburg Rifles Charles S. Liebermann, lost their ment: “I only point out to you two will, while they have an arm to strike lives. very important points which caused or a heart to throb, stand as a living Liebermann had always

6 understood the dangers of war. In son she named Charles Liebermann she happened upon the Charles the spring, he had written to Lenora: II. Unfortunately, the baby died one Lieberman letters in the Virginia “You know, my beloved, that life is month later. His gravestone reads: Historical Society. A little sleuthing uncertain, death certain. And, if Our little Charlie is dead & gone led her to the descendants of Lenora we have to go into a battle, it may To dwell with Christ above Lieberman, who had donated the fall to my lot that my life should be He left his earthly home documents in the mid-1990s without sacrificed on the altar of my adopted For one of peace & love. knowing much about them. Working home. If it is God’s will that it should Frances Lenora remarried and had together, they were able to put the be so, his will be done … Therefore, other children, but she never dis- pieces together, and the family story dear Lenora, if you should hear of carded Charles’s wartime love letters. can now be told again. me falling in a battle, weep not.” The Instead, she kept them safe, and Thirteenth went on to fight in every they were handed down through the major battle in the eastern theater generations. of the war. 232 of its members were engaged at Gettysburg, over 75 Karyl Enstad Rommelfanger is percent of whom were disabled. a retired German teacher from North Carolina suffered more Manitowoc, WI. She has done casualties than any other southern extensive research on the Civil War state: Over 19,000 North Carolinians and has translated many letters fell in combat, while another 20,500 and other documents by German died of disease. Furthermore, of the soldiers fighting for the Union. Trying 135 battle-ready soldiers who joined to find similar correspondence by Company B in 1861, 41 percent died Germans fighting for the Confederacy, of wounds or disease, while another 23 percent were maimed or wounded. North Carolina also experienced the largest number of deserters—because of demoralization and also because of pleas from wives and families that they return home. One wife wrote: “I want you to try you very best to get A furlo and come home and if you cant get A long by yourself rite to me and I will tri to get some one to come after you … I haven got no wheat

soad yet.” Sadly, many Southern OBSERVER CHARLOTTE OF WITH PERMISSION USED soldiers who attempted to flee home to assist their families were met by home guards and roaming bands of bushwhackers, eager to kill them for being disloyal. Though Lenora’s anguish over her husband’s death was undoubtedly great, there was at least momentary Karyl Rommelfanger (right) and the great-grand children of Francis Lenora Davis Lieberman Clark. joy at the birth in May, 1863, of a From left: John Clark, Rosemary Davenport, and Joanne Quantz.

7 BOOKS

Citizens and Those Who Leave: The Politics of Emigration and Expatriation edited by Nancy L. Green and François Weil, University of Press, 2007

Antje Petty

tination: the “push” corresponding of “the right to leave,” a freedom to the “pull.” In the case of immigra- which today is considered one of the tion to America, for example, it is most basic rights of any citizen. In assumed that those who came to the his essay “Leaving—A Contemporary land of opportunities, left their home View,” John Torpey analyzes how the countries because they lacked exactly right to depart is directly connected those—often economic—opportuni- to the right to move within a country. ties. Similarly, whenever the role of In the eighteenth century, large national governments in guiding segments of the European popula- migration is studied, regulations and tion were bound to landowners in requirements set by the receiving hereditary servitude or were subject country are the focus of attention. to powerful guilds that regulated This makes Citizenship and Those employment and movement. Torpey Who Leave: The Politics of Emigration credits the French Revolution—after and Expatriation a unique collection. which French citizens received the The book grew out of a conference “freedom to remain or to depart”— on emigration called “Citoyenneté et with creating a ripple effect across émigration” at the École des Hautes Europe that eventually established a Etudes en Sciences Sociales in right to free movement to the citizens in 2001. As the editors state in their of other nations. preface, the goal of the publication Among the German states, Prus- very immigrant was first an is to take an interdisciplinary and sia abolished hereditary servitude emigrant. Many studies have comparative look at the role of nation in 1807 and in 1817 instituted been done and countless states in shaping worldwide migra- a passport law that allowed free Ebooks have been written on every tion by influencing the “leaving” of movement for everyone within the aspect of the immigration experi- their citizens. The various authors country. However, those who wanted ence; far less, however, has been cover a wide spectrum of global to leave the country needed a special published on the first part of the migration from the colonial era to permit from local authorities. Similar migration process: the “leaving” and the present. While the emigration of passport laws took effect in other the circumstances and decisions that Germans who left for America is not German states, mostly requiring surround it. Usually, the causes for a the main focus of the volume, this would-be immigrants to show that person’s permanent departure from group is featured prominently and their country of destination would his homeland are examined in the will be emphasized in my summary admit them. Later those restric- context of immigration, and they are below. tions loosened, too, and in Prussia a subsequently presented as the mirror The first part focuses on the history second passport law enacted in 1840 image of the attractiveness of the des- allowed all Prussians to emigrate,

8 and Germans, including a wave of countries where emigration figured Russian German that settled in the prominently in building United States. process. The authors see several Aristide Zolberg in his essay “The commonalities. All three states 1) Exit Revolution” ties the shift in atti- used the term “emigration” only for tude towards emigration in European those citizens who intended to leave states to demographic changes and a permanently, 2) saw emigration changing economy and labor market. in a negative light, but at the same In the eighteenth century, a ruler time embraced their citizens who considered his subjects a valuable wanted to leave, 3) saw emigration human resource. Thus the permanent as vital to the strengthening of the departure of valuable citizens was nation, 4) dreamed of spreading discouraged, while at the same time their own culture and values around some rulers tried to get rid of “unde- the globe, and 5) after World War sirable elements” such as “paupers, I tried to keep their citizens who criminals or religious deviants” by lived abroad tied to the homeland. pushing them out of the country. A However, laws concerning who is a century later, however, the combina- citizen, who can become a citizen, This “Advice Book for Those Who Are Eager to tion of a rapidly growing population and who can lose his citizenship Emigrate” was published in 1846 and gives detailed with the beginning of mechanization varied between the countries, and information on destinations ranging from the United States, Africa, Asia, Serbia, and Greece, to and changing labor demands had—in also changed over time. In the case the “lesser cultivated parts of the Fatherland.” Zolberg’s words—a “deflationary ef- of the German-speaking countries, From the Max Kade Institute Collection. fect on the value of population from a German nation and the notion of the perspective of elites concerned “German” citizenship did not even except those who had not fulfilled with economic production and exist. A large number of German- their military obligations. As Torpey military power.” Some states actively speaking Europeans were subjects of points out, though, even the stricter encouraged emigration of their sur- other nations, such as the Austrian passport laws were relatively easy to plus population through emigration Empire, Switzerland, , or circumvent, especially when one left societies and other means; but most Russia. At the birth of the nation for another European country. Tor- merely loosened departure controls. in 1871, a new law declared that all pey contrasts the nineteenth-century The second part of the volume people born on German soil were attitude in German states towards focuses on the resulting European German citizens and retained their migration with that in countries like mass migration of the nineteenth citizenship even after emigration, Russia, the United States, and China. and early twentieth century from as long as they did not renounce it In Russia, for example, where the the perspective of the countries or join a foreign army. This was a serfs were not emancipated until of origin. In this section, three time of explosive economic growth, 1861, the state took over control of authors look at the concept and the and the new law made it easier to the peasant population from the legal implications of “citizenship” attract the needed foreign workers. landowners and restricted internal in European countries and the At the same time it preserved a movement as well as departure. Only role emigration played in the connection to those citizens who undesirable minorities such as Jews formation of nation states. Donna had left and allowed them to return, and Poles were free to leave, as were R. Gabaccia, Dirk Hoerder, and if they so wished. By the end of the Russian Germans. For this reason Adam Walaszek in their essay century, however, Germans became 70 percent of the emigrants from “Emigration and Nation Building concerned about the steady influx Russia between 1899 and 1913 were during Mass Migration,” compare of foreigners and their influence not ethnic Russians, but Jews, Poles, Germany, Poland, and Italy as three on German life and culture, and

9 finally changed the law in 1913 to define citizenship only on the basis of blood lines. Ever since that time, only the child of a German citizen is a German citizen, not matter where in the world he or she is born. The long-term result of the 1913 law was that there were now German citizens living around the world who had never set foot on German soil. Polish and Italian emigrants found themselves in a similar situation as the “Auslandsdeutsche,” and in all Top-half of emigration passport for Magdalene Deuschle from Köngen, Württemberg, issuded in 1858. Traveling with Magdalene Deuschle are her three children. In addition to the usual passport entries like three nations the complexities and personal descriptions, this special emigration document states: All civil or military agencies are instructed conflicts concerning citizenship came to let the carrier of this passport [...] travel from Baden via Strasbourg and Havre to America, where she to the forefront at various times in will join her husband to seek a better life. The document also confirms that the travelersare in possession of the twentieth century, especially transatlantic passenger tickets and 500 Francs . From the Max Kade Institute Collection. when citizens living abroad decided to “return” to the homeland. out that it is difficult for a country Berlin Wall in 1989, the German Articles by Caroline Douki and that allows its citizens the “freedom Democratic Republic, on the other François Weil examine the French to depart” to control departure. hand, restricted the movement of and Italian states at the time of mass Thus in the nineteenth century its citizens even internally. No GDR emigration, and in the third part emigration was mainly restricted citizen was allowed to leave except of the book the cost of emigration indirectly by German states through for another Soviet Block country, and becomes the focus, with essays by inheritance-, tax-, property-, military this was enforced by severe penalties David Feldman and M. Page Baldwin conscription-, and passport laws, and by impenetrable physical (the British state), Corrie von Eijl as well as regulations imposed on borders. and Leo Lucassen (the Dutch state), passenger shipping companies. In Part Four deals with migration and Andreas Fahrmeir, whose title the first half of the twentieth century, and emigration across the borders of is “From Economics to Ethnicity emigration from Germany was neighboring states over the course and Back: Reflections of Emigration influenced by the two World Wars; of two centuries, focusing on the Control in Germany, 1800–2000.” the results were a wave of emigrants Netherlands, Canada, and Mexico When economic factors became the between the wars, a wave of refugees as countries of departure. Part Five deciding consideration, the German from Hitler’s Europe, and later looks at the term “emigrant” and states feared they would lose their another wave of post-World War II how a person who leaves his country most qualified people and—if such emigrants. In the second half of the is defined by the people who stay citizens failed in their new country century, the two German states took behind. Focusing on the examples —would have to readmit and once very different approaches towards of the “Overseas Chinese,” the again support previously self- their citizens who wanted to leave. “Genesis of Brain Drain in India,” supporting citizens. On the other The Federal Republic of Germany and “Israeli Emigration Policy,” it hand, as the nineteenth century did not restrict the movement becomes clear that the economic progressed, the earlier practice of of its citizens, but emigration and political situation determines shipping undesirable subjects abroad nevertheless virtually ceased as the whether emigrants are admired or had been made increasingly difficult country itself offered economic by the receiving countries, especially opportunities. Until the fall of the the United States. Fahrmeir points Continued on page 12

10 Continued from page 1

in addition to a digitized edition of seen as an indictment of President development from small-time state the original 1891 Houghton Mifflin Johnson’s policies. politician and lawyer, to experienced edition available since 2007. Inciden- Schurz’s essay on Lincoln is speaker, political strategist, and tally, we note that there is new inter- characterized by an honesty and opponent of Stephen Douglas, and est in Carl Schurz and his life and objectivity that make it different finally to president, in all cases contribution in the last years, too: a from many early portrayals that emphasizing that it was this same facsimile edition of his two-volume merely eulogize and idealize him. “weird mixture,” the marriage Reminiscences (first published in In fact, Schurz begins with the of his knowledge and logic with 1907) appeared in 2005 and 2006. hypothesis that Lincoln’s stature his sympathy for and intuitive The lives and careers of Schurz would lose rather than gain from understanding of the “plain people” and Lincoln were linked during idealization—since it was the “weird of the nation—stemming from his the Civil War and the Lincoln mixture qualities and forces,“ the background among them—that presidency, and they knew each lofty and the common, the ideal made him able to lead the country in other well. In 1860 Schurz, a and the uncouth, that made him a time of crisis. Thus Schurz insists resident of Watertown, WI, and a the powerful and beloved leader he that Lincoln did well not to make member of the Board of Regents became. For this reason, Lincoln’s abolition the main issue of the Civil of the University of Wisconsin, unprivileged background (Schurz’s War from the beginning, although it was a delegate to the Republican words are “wretched,” “squalid,” and was an issue that had always “stirred National Convention in Chicago, “void of elevating inspirations”) his soul in its profoundest depths,” where Lincoln was chosen the party’s receives no glossing over: his father but waited instead until the “plain presidential candidate. Schurz, then was “a typical ‘poor Southern white,’ people” were ready to fight to rid the only 31 years old, campaigned for shiftless and improvident, […] country of slavery as an institution. Lincoln, and his part in Lincoln’s constantly looking for a new piece In Schurz’s essay we find a victory was rewarded in 1861 with of land on which he might make first-rate summary of the political an appointment as minister to a living without much work.” The situation in America in the years Spain—despite both his desire at young Lincoln himself receives that led up to Lincoln’s election as that point for a military command a colorful—but decidedly not president: the meaning of the repeal and fears from within the U.S. handsome—depiction as “a very tall, of the Compromise by the administration that his revolutionary rawboned youth, with large features, Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Dred Scott background (as a Forty-eighter) dark, shriveled skin, and rebellious decision, and the Lincoln-Douglas would make him unacceptable in hair; his arms and legs long, out of debates. Lincoln was not well Europe. Schurz was to assess reaction proportion; clad in deerskin trousers, equipped to be Douglas’s opponent abroad and to prevent other nations which from frequent exposure to the because of his underprivileged from recognizing and assisting the rain had shrunk so as to sit tightly background: “[His] narrow oppor- secessionist states. By the summer of on his limbs, leaving several inches tunities and the unsteady life he had 1862, Schurz was back in America to of bluish shin exposed between led during his younger years had not serve in the Civil War; he took part their lower end and the heavy tan- permitted the accumulation of large in the battles of Bull Run, Missionary colored shoes….” And Schurz insists stores in his mind.” Nevertheless, his Ridge, and Gettysburg, finally that many of the qualities for which strength, influence, and power as a rising to the rank of major general. Lincoln was most admired were speaker grew through the 1840s and He supported Lincoln’s plans for the direct result of problems he was 1850s, until finally the small-town reconstruction and, though shaken forced to overcome, that his terse lawyer from Illinois had become by his assassination, remained in the and direct writing style, for example, a nationally known leader and service of the federal government, came from the shortage of paper in president-elect of the United States. preparing an influential report on the Lincoln household. Schurz describes Lincoln’s the condition of the South that was Schurz describes Lincoln’s troubles as the new president with

11 gaining the acceptance of members was a man of humble origin who Continued from page 10 of his administration who felt that rose to a position of unprecedented they were his superior. He cites a power; he was a gentle man whom memorandum Lincoln received from fate called upon to conduct the regarded as traitors, are supported Secretary of State Seward at the end bloodiest American war; he held or despised, and sometimes are of his first month in office—which great governmental power but ruled treated first one way and then the Lincoln’s biographers Nicolay and the people by tender sympathy other. It is interesting to compare the Hay had first brought to light—and and compassion; conservative by feelings towards emigrants in these claims that this was nothing short of nature, he led a wide-reaching social countries with reactions that German a “formal demand that the President revolution; he kept his simple speech emigrants encountered over the should acknowledge his own and rustic manner, but “thrilled the centuries. incompetency to perform his duties, soul of mankind with utterances of When one looks at the volume content himself with the amusement wonderful beauty and grandeur”; and as a whole, a number of common of distributing post offices, and finally, though maligned by many strands emerge. Most notably: over resign his power as to all important while in power, he is praised as one the centuries of global migration, affairs into the hands of his Secretary of the noblest of men. the receiving countries have of State.” Schurz tells of how Lincoln Schurz’s essay is an excellent predominantly been the ones that handled such opponents, led the survey of the life and times of influenced the migration flow. Only country into the Civil War, and Lincoln. It is well written and if a country completely seals its exercised his intuitive good judgment concise, and it displays qualities that borders can it control its emigrants. on military matters. In addition, have earned Schurz our respect—as And while migrants have played Schurz reveals details that he knew a writer, as a writer of English, a a crucial role in the creation and from first-hand experience, such as language that he learned only as an identity of many nations, they have the attitudes of European leaders adult, and as a historian. Because also been viewed with an array of toward the secession of the Southern the essay appeared in a number mixed feelings, ranging from envy, states, who would have liked nothing of printings as part of Houghton admiration, and encouragement, to more than to see the permanent Mifflin’s Riverside Literature Series, suspicion, fear, and condemnation— disruption of the American Union. which was directed especially at not only as immigrants by their Schurz’s essay reveals details educational institutions, we can new countries, but also emigrants about Lincoln’s private life and assume it served for many years as by the countries they left. Readers person. Those who regret that we one of the classic texts in American interested in learning more about have no recordings of Lincoln’s schools. German-American history will find voice can read here that it was “not food for thought when they compare melodious,” but “rather shrill and the German-American emigration piercing, especially when it rose experience with that of citizens of to its high treble in moments of other nations. great animation.” And in one short paragraph Schurz suggests Lincoln’s grief at the loss of his first love, his depression, and his troubled marriage—topics about which many volumes have been written. Schurz’s final sentence, nearly 300 words in length, summarizes his essay and emphasizes once again the ambiguities in Lincoln’s life: he

12 FRIENDS

Robert M. Bolz wife Anne and through his leadership 1922–2009 with different family foundations, especially the Eugenie Mayer Bolz Family Foundation, he supported numerous causes and organizations, including—just to name a few—Ol- brich Botanical Gardens, Madison Children’s Museum, Atwood Com- munity Center, Madison Sym- phony Orchestra, and the Max Kade Institute. He served on a number of community boards and foundations, including the Dane County Natural Heritage Board, United Way of Dane County, Meriter Hospital Board and Foundation, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, and Wiscon- sin Historical Foundation. He was also very active with the University of Wisconsin, where he served on several boards, including those of the Robert and Anne Bolz at the Friends Annual Meeting in 2005 in Madison Wisconsin Alumni Research Foun- dation, the Business School, and the ur longtime Friend and late-fifteenth century, hangs in the University of Wisconsin Foundation. member of the Board of Max Kade Institute. From 1999 to 2005, Bob was on Directors, Robert Mayer Born in Chicago, Bob lived in the Board of Directors of the Friends OBolz, passed away on January 19, Madison most of his life. He gradu- of the Max Kade Institute, and he 2009 at the age of 86. Bob was the ated from UW-Madison with a B.S. served as its Vice President from son of Adolph C. and Eugenie Mayer in Engineering, attended Harvard 2003 to 2005. He was involved in the Bolz. His family background was one Business School, and worked for Institute’s activities far beyond just of the reasons Bob was interested in several years for Lockheed Aircraft “sitting on the Board.” Bob cared German-American history, German- Company in California. After a brief personally about the work of the American relations, and the work of stint in the U.S. Army during World MKI. He visited the Keystone House the Max Kade Institute. Bob’s ances- War II, Bob began his long career at to support our special projects, and tors on both sides of the family hailed Oscar Mayer and Co., serving in sev- he made it his mission to raise the from German-speaking Europe, eral positions, from plant manager visibility of the Institute and its pro- including his grandfather Oskar Fer- of Double O Sausage Company in gramming. We will always remember dinand Mayer (founder of the Oscar Chicago, to president of Oscar Mayer Bob as a most kind, thoughtful, and Mayer Company) who was born in and Co. in Madison, and eventually helpful Friend. Bavaria in 1859 and came to Chi- retiring as Vice-Chairman of the cago as a fourteen-year-old boy. A Board. poster-size, hand-drawn Stammtafel Bob was not only one of Madison’s der Försterfamilie Mayer (family tree most respected businessmen, but also of the forester family Mayer), tracing one of the city’s most engaged and Oscar Mayer’’s family back to the generous philanthropists. With his

13 BOOKS

German Americans and their Relations with during the Mid-nineteenth Century Racial Divides, Special Issue of the Journal of American Ethnic History, Vol 28.1, Fall 2008

James J. Lorence

social behavior of German Ameri- South. Only belatedly did he leave cans in St. Louis, Charleston, S.C., South Carolina, unable to reconcile and the American South in the his conflicting perceptions. pre-Civil War and Reconstruction Equally complicated were German- periods. Readers will find sub- American political preferences in stantial material of interest in this St. Louis during the contentious journal issue, and particularly in Reconstruction period. While at one the forum section. time German voters were assumed to Setting the tone for the dis- be firmly grounded in the Republican cussion, Helmut Keil of the Party in support of the Union during University of Leipzig explores the the Civil War, these party alliances variegated career of Francis Lieber began to break down in the postwar in antebellum South Carolina. era. Consequently, as Kristen L. Presenting a nuanced portrait of Anderson of the University of Iowa Lieber’s unfolding ideas from the demonstrates, the Republican lines 1830s to the 1860s, Keil shows that were broken as a result of new while South Carolina’s German political realities in Reconstruction academic lived within a slave Missouri. Her research confirms the society and participated in its loosening of the ethnic bonds forged social practices, he also harbored during the war, and the emergence of he Journal of American contradictory ideas concerning more political diversity than was once Ethnic History (Fall 2008) slavery as an institution. Even perceived in the St. Louis community. contains a stimulating as he accepted slave ownership Especially notable was the impact Tforum section entitled “German himself, he was forced to come to of cultural tensions in separating Americans and their Relations with terms with the price of inequality German-American voters from their African Americans during the Mid- in a closed society. Concluding original loyalties, as some elements in Nineteenth Century.” Focusing on that race was the “fundamental their community drifted towards the racial divides, this forum explores reason for enslavement and more receptive Democratic Party of “race and ethnic relations between discrimination,” Lieber could also the 1870s. and within ethnic and racial groups argue that ultimately “African Finally, Jeffrey Strickland of in American society.” Organized and Americans should rightfully have Montclair State University documents edited by Walter D. Kamphoefner of the status of American citizens.” the evolution of Texas A & M University, it demon- The picture of Lieber that emerges, from a socially complex relationship strates the linkages among Unionism, then, is one of a pragmatist who with the African-American the antislavery movement, Republi- in the abstract held slavery to be community in antebellum South canism, and racial egalitarianism in a philosophical “absurdity” and Carolina towards an accommodation mid-nineteenth century America, a “great malady,” but who spent with the Democratic Party and the with an emphasis on the political and much of his American career in the Redeemers who came to dominate

14 MEMBERSHIP/RENEWAL

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the late Reconstruction South. unified group was mistaken in that society. While initially comfortable with assumption, which concealed a easy interaction with the black complex mix of ethnically-based James J. Lorence is Professor Emeritus communities of the antebellum era, political and social preferences. in the Department of History at the German Americans followed their Kamphoefner has done scholars University of Wisconsin-Marathon own road to social acceptance as the of German-American studies an County, Wausau, WI Reconstruction period came to an important service in assembling this end. This essay, informed by the field set of essays, which, taken together, of “whiteness studies,” argues that as reveal the richness and diversity of German Americans moved towards the German-American experience their own integration into South in the mid-nineteenth century Carolina society, they embraced United States. This forum makes it the Democratic Party and the white clear that over time, ethnic voters supremacy it represented at the time refined their preferences and moved of Redemption. As a result, second- away from their early openness generation German Americans began on matters of race and towards a to identify themselves with native- more conventional view of politics born white Southerners and closed and society. This sophisticated ranks in support of Jim Crow politics interpretation of the German- as the nineteenth century wore on. American experience indicates that In sum, this forum demonstrates shifting political and social coalitions that earlier scholarship that were part and parcel of admission treated German Americans as a into the mainstream of American

15 Friends of the Max Kade Institute Non-Profit Organization for German-American Studies US Postage University of Wisconsin PAID Madison, WI 901 University Bay Drive Permit No. 2704 Madison, WI 53705

Upcoming event

Friends Annual Meeting and Dinner in Dodge County, Wisconsin Saturday, May 2, 2009

Join us for an exiting day of exploration in Dodge County: 1:30 – 4 PM Bus tour of German Fachwerkhäuser (half-timbered houses) of Watertown and Lebanon with historian Lyle Lindholm 4PM–6PM ANNUAL MEETING at Williams Free Library and Museum, Beaverdam, WI 6PM–8pm Dinner at Feil’s Supper Club in Randolph, WI

A registration form with all details will be mailed to members of the Friends. You can also find the form online at mki.wisc.edu or call 608-262-7546.

BRING A FRIEND—MAKE A FRIEND Dinner purchase includes 2009 Friends of MKI membership for new Friends.